The Five Corners Job
by PaBurke
Summary: What if Sam and Dean had gone Hunting in a different time?


The Five Corners Job

By PaBurke

Summary: What if Dean and Sam had been Hunting in a different era?

Spoilers: Season One of Magnificent 7, Supernatural AU

Warnings: none.

Disclaimer: None of this eye candy is bringing me money, I'm not a pimp.

Distribution: The Nook, Crossroads lj

Vin Tanner was the first of the Four Corners protectors to notice the saddle partners. They rode into town on the matching black mares that moved like a one of those fancy buggy teams. Then they stepped down and Vin realized that it was the two men who moved like a team. He did find it a little amusing that both of the mares preferred the shorter man to the taller.

And was the taller one _tall_. Maybe even as tall as that guy in the circus that passed through last month. He tried to slouch and hide his height but there was no way he could. He was proportioned properly, with a set of shoulders made for grappling.

Vin worried a bit at the way their eyes took in everything in town, seriously, weighing it. Their eyes passed over Vin and… did not dismiss him, but judged him not to be of their concern. So they weren't bounty hunters. They were carrying enough guns for it though. They each had one tied down and were carrying a rifle. They were also carrying knives. The shorter one had a gun tucked into the back of his pants, hidden by his shirt.

The pair headed for the bar and Vin followed. He walked over to the table his friends were playing at and pulled up a chair. JD joined them soon after, jerking a thumb in the cowboys' direction. "Which one do you think is more dangerous?"

"Flip a coin," Ezra muttered. "It'd be as good a guess."

"Seriously?" JD glanced from one experienced westerner to another. "The one is _huge_."

"The shorter," Chris said without looking up. Vin found it amusing that the 'shorter' was taller than him by several inches but the tall one simply dwarfed everyone around him.

"Ya sure?"

Chris just looked at the greenhorn. "He's protecting the other and has been doing it for a while." End of the discussion.

Then the shorter one stepped up to their table. "I understand that you are the authority 'round here," he said with an easy grin.

Buck grinned right back. "That's so."

The stranger jerked a thumb at the tall one. "We're looking for our pa. He's my size, graying black hair and beard and blue eyes. He rides a big, mean, black stallion with the same brand as ours."

Vin had noticed the odd stylized sun brand on the mares. He had never seen such a brand before, anywhere in his travels. "That horse hasn't been in town," he said.

"Maybe he skirted around?" the stranger asked.

"He's antisocial," the tall one finally joined the conversation.

Vin looked to Ezra and mouth 'antisocial?' Ezra shrugged. "Their missing father doesn't like people."

"I haven't seen any tracks."

"Do you have a library in town?" the taller one asked.

"Sammy," his brother dropped his head. "This isn't New York."

Sam shrugged. "Often there is a written collection of histories for the territories, however unofficial. It never hurts to ask, Dean."

"You've already had too much schoolin' and book learnin'," Dean muttered.

"Josiah might have something," JD piped up. "He's over at the church."

Sam smiled at them. "I noticed a newspaper?"

"Mary Travis runs it."

Dean brightened at the thought of a woman. "I'll go there and see if Pa left a message for us. Enjoy your dusty books, Sam."

"I'll walk you over," Chris offered. He had considered sending Buck, but the friendly man didn't have a suspicious enough nature. Dean didn't seem the type to hurt a woman, but he wasn't going to give him a chance.

Dean took it all in stride. He did flirt a little with Mary; just enough to get his hands on every addition of the paper and then question her about any strange personal advertisements. There Dean hit pay dirt. Mary had received five different ads in the last two months and they had all been mailed to her from different towns. Because of the unique envelopes, she had kept them.

Dean spread out the envelopes how in the same shape as the towns surrounded Four Corners. He stood over them and studied the message that had been each one. "What were you doing, Pa?" he muttered.

The messages seemed like gibberish to Chris, both now and when they had appeared in the newspaper. Ezra had mentioned that the first half of each message was Latin, but that he didn't know enough to translate it. Dean was reading it as if it were in English; he was a lot more educated than the normal cowboy. So how much more did Sam know?

Speak of the Devil.

Sam sauntered into the newspaper office; he was real quiet considering his size. He looked over his brother's shoulder and read the missives. "Who does he think he is? Mr. Colt?"

Dean snorted, "Only without all the money to make it permanent."

"You know he's got some plan."

"It's the wire. He's counting on it to connect the dots."

"That's fragile."

Chris didn't notice anything odd in the tone of voice but Dean turned to face his brother. He lifted an eyebrow and Sam nodded. They had an entire conversation without words. Chris remembered that his wife used to say so many things with just one expressive look, but she was female and they could do all sort of unexplainable things. Chris had known Vin's mettle before speaking to him and often they knew what the other was thinking. Some said that he and Vin could communicate better without words than with, but nothing like these brothers.

Dean smiled at Mary, thanked her for her time and tipped his hat. Sam echoed him. The two sauntered out of the paper's office, in step, like soldiers in the British army. Chris followed them out.

Dean walked straight to his horse. Both the horses crowded him. He had a sugar cube for each. "How's my girls? Heya Imp. Don't push, Ella."

Sam waited until the greetings were complete before grabbing his horse's reins and climbing aboard. Dean mounted and followed Sam out of town. Chris considering following, but spotted Vin sneaking across the countryside.

Good. Chris would see what Josiah and Sam had discussed.

"Josiah?" Chris called from the church door.

The big man greeted him with a smile. "Yes, Chris?"

"Sam? What did he want?"

"Information. Mostly about local legends, but he was really interested to hear about all the church supplies that got delayed."

Chris remembered that. A big church back east had offered money and supplies to build a church in a bunch of towns in the area. Josiah had warily accepted the materials, but when his supplies never showed he had asked the rest of the Seven to investigate. They had found the wagons, abandoned twenty miles east of town. All the materials, for all of the churches, were accounted for but there were strange markings all around on the ground.

They still didn't know who had delayed the supplies or why. If they hadn't meant to steal the materials, why take them in the first place?

As Vin had a tendency to say, 'it don't make no sense.'

The saddle partners never returned to Four Corners. Chris was pretty sure that they had found their pa. They were too determined not to.

*


End file.
